Package for ampoules

ABSTRACT

Packing part for receiving a plurality of small objects, such as medicinal ampoules, made from a single piece of sheet material, such as semi-stiff cardboard, having a substantially U-shaped form with apertures in the middle part which are disposed between V-shaped ribs. The region of the side walls bounding the middle portion is bent in zig-zag form and the resulting bending edges are joined to the ribs. A method for producing such a packing part by simultaneously bending the side walls and forming the ribs. An apparatus for forming packing parts with bending flaps and punch heads.

United States Patent [1 1 Vogeli 11 Nov. 12, 1974 1 PACKAGE FOR AMPOULES [76] Inventor: Ernst Vogeli, Hermetschloostrasse 75, CH-8048 Zurich, Switzerland 221 Filed: July 10, 1972 211 App]. No.: 269,944

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 8, 1971 Switzerland 10083/71 [52] US. Cl. 206/437, 229/28 R [51] Int. Cl 365d 5/48 [58] Field of Search 206/65 A, 46 FR; 229/27, 229/28 R, 28 BC [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,689.06] 9/1954 Gray 229/28 BC 2,895.662 7/1959 Vines 229/28 R 3,104.794 9/1963 Sheldon-Williams 229/28 R 3.351.261 11/1967 Persson 229/28 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 964.566 8/1950 France 229/28 Primary ExaminerWi1liam 1. Price Assistant Examiner-Douglas B. Farrow Attorney, Agent, or Firm-W. G. Fasse [5 7] ABSTRACT Packing part for receiving a plurality of small objects. such as medicinal ampoules. made from a single piece of sheet material. such as semi-stiff cardboard. having a substantially Ushaped form with apertures in themiddle part which are disposed between V-shaped ribs. The region of the side walls bounding the middle portion is bent in zig-zag form and the resulting bending edges arejoined to the ribs.

A method for producing such a packing part by simultaneously bending the side walls and forming the ribs.

An apparatus for forming packing parts with bending flaps and punch heads.

8 Claims, 25 Drawing Figures MENIEnnnwz 197*- 3847281 sum 1 or a MTENTEU NOV 12 I97 SHEET t Of 4 PACKAGE FOR AMPOULES This invention relates to a packing for receiving objects and, more specifically, for receiving medicinal ampoules. The invention also relates to a method of producing such packings and to an apparatus for carrying out this method.

Various types of boxes are known for the packing of small objects, such as ampoules. One such type of packing comprises a corrugated card glued to a flat base and the small objects are placed in the troughs of the corrifgated card. This type of packing, however, has the disadvantage that it takes. up a relatively large space when stored empty before use even if pairs of packings are inserted one in the other. Additionally, it is difficult to remove the small objects by means of the fingers since there is no access to the troughs from the flat base.

Other types of known packings have the disadvantage that they either require a substantially greater packing volume for the objects or they require more expensive material or complicated machines for their manufacture. It is a first object of the invention to provide a packing which can be made from a flat piece of sheet material which may be stored in flat condition and which has a small volume in the erected condition with reference to the articles to be packed.

It is a further object of theinvention to provide means to get a rigid packing which is suitable for transporting fragile packed goods, such as medicinal glass ampoules.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus which is relatively simple in construction and which is highly efficient.

SUBJECT MATTEROF THE INVENTION Briefly, a unitary packing for receiving objects, comprising two side walls, a middle portion extending between the side walls, and a plurality of substantially V- shaped ribs extending between the side walls, the ribs defining apertures therebetween for receiving objects to be packed, the edgesbetween the side walls and middle portion being of a zig-zag shape and connecting with the ribs.

The method of producing such a packing comprises: forming a plurality of slots spaced apart from and parallel toone another in a blank; and subsequently bending the blank to form two side walls and a middle portion extending: between the side walls, a plurality of substantially V-shaped ribs extending, between the side walls and a plurality of apertures for receiving objects to be packed.

The apparatus according to the invention comprises: a comb having spaced apart supporting elements for supporting a blank; two pivotally mounted bending flaps; and a punch movable relative to the supporting elements and. provided with a plurality of spaced apart punch heads which arecapableof movement to a position between the-supporting elements, the arrangement being such that, in operation, pivotal movement of the bending flaps takes place simultaneously with the movement of the punch head.

The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank of a packing according to the present invention, slots and bending lines being indicated;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the blank of FIG. 1. during a bending operation;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective of the packing after completion of the bending operation of the blank of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of material parts of the blank of FIG. 1 before the bending operation;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view similar to FIG. 4 blank after the bending operation;

FIG. 6 is a section of the packing the line VII-VII of FIG. 8;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the packing of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a plan viewof the packing of FIG. 3; 7

FIG. 9 is a plan view of another embodiment of a packing according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a further embodiment of a packing according to the present invention;

of the of FIG. 3 taken on FIG. 11 is a plan view of a yet further embodiment of a packing according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a punch forming part of an apparatus for making a packing according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of bending flaps of the apparatus;

FIG. 14- is a perspective view of a blank for a packing according to the present invention and provided with slots;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a comb of the apparatus;

FIG. 16 is a side view of the apparatus before a bending operation is performed on the blank;

FIG. 17 is a side view of the apparatus of FIG. 16

after completion of the bending operation;

FIG. 18 is a section of a packing held together by ng FIGS. 19 and 20 show further embodiments of packings according to the present invention; and

FIGS. 21 to 25 illustrate another embodiment of a packing according to the present invention.

In the drawings, like parts have been designated by the same reference numerals.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a blank 1 for a packing or packing part according tothe presentinvention. The blank 1 preferably consists of a semistiff cardboard of a thickness of substantially between 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm. The blank 1 is provided with a plurality of slots 2 which are parallel to one another and extend transversely through the middle portion of the blank 1-. The slots 2 are made by a cutting operationwhich merely cuts the blank and does not remove any part of it. However, the slots maybe made by a stamping operation which produces a relatively narrow cutout in the blank. The blank 1 is then bent into a sub stantially U-shape so that a pair of side walls 3 areformed with a middle portion 4 being situated therebetween. This bending operation produces two imagined folds or bending lines 5 which are shown as broken lines in FIG. 1. These bending lines 5, which are parallel to one another, extend at right anglestothe slots 2i As can be seen in FIG. I, the length of each slot is greater than thedistance between the two bending lines 5. While the side walls3are being formedby the bending operation, the middle portion 4 is also simultaneously shaped so that a plurality of V-shaped ribs 6 are formed and the slits 2 open out to form respective apertures 7. The apertures are hexagonal in plan and their circumference is equal to twice the length of the slots. The ribs 6 are formed without tearing or crum- -pling the blank and solely by the bending operation al' ready described.

The mechanics of the bending operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. The ribs 6 widen in the downward direction (as seen in FIG. 3) that is to say towards the interior of the packing. Each rib has a ridge part or ridge line 8 which extends transversely to the bending lines 5 and which extends as straight lines between the two side walls 3, as can be seen in FIG. 3. It can also be seen in FIG. 3 that the bending lines 5 extend through the ends of the ridge lines 8 in the complete packing. Each side wall 3 has an upper boundary edge 9 which is of a zig-zag configuration and which is formed in a zone of the blank between the line joining the ends of the slots 2 and the respective bending line 5. The boundary edges 9 are not cut edges but bent edges.

The bending operation canbest be followed by reference to the areas indicated by dots and hatching in FIGS. 1 to 5. In the blank 1 (FIG. 1') corner points A,

B, C, D form a trapezium, the corner points A and D lying'at the end of a slot 2 and the points B and C lying at the end of a ridge line 8. Points E and F are formed at the points of intersection of the slot with the bending line 5. The trapezium is divided into two triangles 10 (indicated by hatching) and a rectangle 12 (indicated by dots) which will subsequently form a wall of a rib. If the blank 1 is bent so that the two side walls 3 are parallel to each other, it will be appreciated that the corner points A and D will become spaced apart by a distance corresponding to the distance between the two side walls. This distance also corresponds to the distance between the corner points B and C. Since before the bending operation a'distance between the corner points A and D was greaterthan the distance between the comer points B and C, this has the consequence that, after the bending operation, the edges of the triangles 10 and of the rectangle 12 are folded in such a manner that together with the adjacent rectangle 12 theyform a rib 6, the slot 2 thereby being widened out to form the aperture 7.

As can be seen from FIGS. 4 and 5,- the corner points A and D each move through an angle a during the bending operation, and at the same time the rectangle 12 is turned through an angle [3. Consequently, no weakened portion is formed between the slots 2 as, for example, would be the case if apertures were stamped from the blank. This means that the ribs 6 are finnly connected to the material of the side walls 3 and accordingly are very strong. Because of the V-shaped form of the rib 6, great compressive or buckling strength is obtained and this is very desirable in order to obtain a stable packing thickness and good resistance of the packing to compressive loads. Because of the triangles 10 which are folded during the bending operation, the aperture 7 can resiliently adapt to different diameters of tolerances in the diameter of the objects, for example glass ampoules, inserted therein. Thus, the apertures are capable of elastically or resiliently gripping objects therein.

Depending on the desired conditions of use, the angle y (FIG. 6) between the walls 12 of each rib 6 may be selected differently. In one extreme case the two walls may extend practically parallel to one another so that the triangles 10 are almost parallel to the side walls 3. In this case each rib 6 is effectively a double thickness of the material of the blank.

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a packing according to the present invention. In this embodiment the apertures 7 are spaced apart by a relatively large distance to facilitate gripping of objects inserted into the apertures by the fingers. The width of the ribs is thus increased and the ridge line is replaced by a relatively wide ridge surface 14. The remainder of the construction of this packing corresponds to that of the previously described embodiment.

Another embodiment of a packing according to the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 10. This embodiment has alternate wide and narrow apertures 16, 17

for use when the objects to be packed are of unequal side walls 3 in this embodiment are not parallel to one another but are divergent. I

In FIG. 19 a yet further packing according to the present invention is shown. This packing has additional U-shaped intermediate supports 21, 22 of the same construction as described in FIGS. 1 to 7 so that multiple support is provided over the entire length of ob jects.

The packing according to the present invention as shown in FIG. 20 is intended for objects the diameter of which varies in the axial direction, e.g., objects which are conical or stepped in shape. In this embodiment two packings 24, 25 are disposed one in the other, the upper packing having large apertures 26 and the lower packing having small apertures 27.

FIGS. 12 to 17 illustrate an apparatus for making the packing of FIG. 3. A punch 30 has a plurality of punch heads 31, each of which has a rounded lower end. Between the punch heads 31 is a gap 32 in which a stripper 33 or release mechanism is disposed for the purpose of stripping the packing from the punch 30 after the bending operation has been performed. Two pins 34 project laterally from the punch 30 and on them connecting rods 47 are pivotally mounted. The apparatus includes two bending flaps 36, 37 (FIG. 13) which are mounted on fixed front and rear side walls (not shown) for pivotal movement about respective pivot pins 35. A comb 42, shown in FIG. 15, is connected to the side walls. The flaps 36, 37 pivot about axes 38, 39 which coincide with the bending lines 5 of the packing. A pin 40, spaced apart from the respective pivot pins 35, is provided on each flap. The pins 40 cooperate with the connecting rod 47 to produce the required stroke together with the punch 30.

The comb 42 is situated beneath the punch 30 and has a plurality of narrow spaced apart support plates 43 extending vertically upwardly therefrom. The width of the support plates 43 corresponds to the distance between the two side walls 3 of the packing. The blank I, in which the slots 2 have'previously been cut, is placed on the end faces 45 of the support plates 43 of the comb 42 in such a manner that the slots come to lie exactly in the centre between the support plates 43, that is to say, the support plates 43 are in register with the ridge lines 8 to be formed. The position of the blank, relative to the comb' 42, is determined by stop means.

Thus, the spacing of the support plates 13 corresponds to that of the slots 2. The arrangement of the comb 42 and punch 30 in relation to one another is such that the support plates 43 enter the slots 32 in the punch when the latter moves downwards.

During the bending operation, all the surfaces of the blank 1 move simultaneously, but these movements take place with different angular velocities. Only the ridge lines 8 remain stationary.

After the blank 1 has been placed on the end faces 45 of the support plates 43, the punch 30 and the bending flaps 36, 37 are brought into the starting position shown in FIG. 16. The bending flaps 36, 37 are now pivoted through 90 about the pivot pins 35 in the direction of arrows G, H so that they assume a lower position as shown in FIG. 17 and at the same time the punch 30 is moved towards the blank 1 and the punch heads 31 penetrated the slots 2 in the blank 1, thereby effecting deformation and forming the ribs 6. During the bending operation the support plates 43 support the blank 1. During the bending operation, however, the two triangles (FIGS.- 1 to 5) should be neither deformed nor crushed and, in addition, no tears should be made in the material, in order to retain the greatest possible strength and neat appearance to the finished packing. This makes it necessary for a predetermined relationship to be maintained between the angular velocities of the movement of the side walls 3 during the bending operation. During the bending operation the corner point A is turned through the angle a about the bending line 5 while at the same time the rectangle 12 is turned through the angle [3 about the ridge line 8. Since the distance between points A and F and points D and E must, at the same time, remain unchanged throughout the entire bending operation if the material is not to be deformed or crushed or if tears are not to be made, the relationship:

sin a tan [3/2 must be satisfied.

The heads 31 are so shaped that this relationship is satisfied. By virtue of the fact that the connecting rods 37 are between the punch 30 and the bending flaps 36, 37, it is, in addition, ensured that after the pivotal movement of the bending flaps the punch 30 is brought to rest when the flaps are in their lower position.

This apparatus has the advantage that the bending lines 9 do not need to be pre-grooved, weakened or otherwise previously deformed, so that the packing can be made in a single bending operation in which two bending processes, taking place simultaneously, are adapted to one another in such a manner that at all times during the bending operation accurate predetermined shaping of the blank is achieved without the need of heating the blank.

FIGS. to illustrate another embodiment of a packing 60 according to the present invention. This packing, shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 in the erected position, is made from a rectangular cardboard blank 1 shown in FIG. 21. U-shaped cut-outs 50, 51 are made in the blank 1 and by subsequent bending tongs 52, 53 are formed. Bending edges 54, 55, 56 which extend at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the blank and which are parallel to one another are shown in dotted lines. Bending grooves may be formed in the blank at the bending edges if desired during cutting the slots 2.

In a first bending operation as shown in FIG. 22 two oppositely directed U-shap ed parts are bent out of the flap blank shown in FIG. 21 and these can be imagined as being produced by adding to a packing of the kind illustrated in FIG. 3 another, identical packing which, however, is turned through 180 about a longitudinal axis. Applied to the blank 1 this means that the ribs 6 are formed in opposite directions. The shape obtained after this bending operation is illustrated in FIG. 22.

The part 58 is then bent through l about the bending edge 54 so that it comes to lie in the cavity of the part 59. After this bending operation, the blank is in the condition illustrated in FIG. 23.

The blank is then bent 180 about the bending edge 55 and thereupon the remainder of the blank is bent over about the bending edge 56, so that finally the packing 60 illustrated in FIG. 24 is obtained. The packing has now two rows of ribs, the ribs of each row being in register one above the other.

In order to enable the packing 60 shown in FIG. 24 to hold together without additional means such as adhesive or the like, the tongs 52' are used. The tongs 53 have no actual holding function, but merely serve to enable the tongs 52 to be pushed into the apertures 7, in the manner shown in FIG. 18.. These tongs 52 are pushed by mechanically operated fingers into the re spective apertures 7 between two ribs 6 and are thereupon bent downwards by a punch moved in the direction of the arrow P, so that they are locked between two adjacent ribs and thus hold the packing together.

In certain cases it is possible to dispense with the bending operation of the tongs 52 by a punch, this bending operation being performed by the ampoules or other objects as they are inserted into the apertures 7.

It will be appreciated that the packing described will receive objects, for example, the necks of ampoules in such a manner that the objects can be effectively gripped by the fingers for the purposes of extraction. The minimum distance between two objects is very slight and yet there is no weakened portion of the packing between the objects. Moreover, insertion of the objects is facilitated by the ribs which are V-shaped and because of their resiliency, they protect the ampoules against drop out and are adapted to tolerate differences in the size of the objects. Furthermore, the packings are relatively stiff so that even when they retain objects which are fragile they can be satisfactorily stacked. Moreover, the manufacture of the packings is effected with a minimum of working operation, and the apparatus required for this purpose is relatively simple.

Various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the inventive concept.

What is claimed is: p

1. A unitary cardboard packing container for receiving small objects, comprising two parallel spaced apart side walls, a middle portion joining said two side walls, said middle portion having a plurality of hollow, V- shaped ribs opening towards the space between said side walls and extending transversely between said side walls, a plurality of substantially hexagonal apertures of the same shape and size between adjacent ribs for receiving objects to be packed, the region of said side walls adjacent said ribs having edges with a zig-zag configuration, and connecting portions for joining said ribs to said zig-zag edges, said connecting portions having substantially a triangular shape and being connected by bending edges to said ribs and to said side walls, said side walls, ribs and connecting portions being formed of a single piece of sheet material.

2. A cardboard packing container for receiving small objects, said container comprising a sheet of cardboard with straight edges and having first, second, third and fourth substantially adjacent areas bent to form the longitudinal sides of a rectangular parallelepiped, a fifth area adjoining said fourth area inside said parallelepiped lying against said first area and extending to said second area, a sixth area within said parallelepiped and parallel to said fourth area and seventh and eighth areas adjoining said sixth area and extending therefrom to said second area, parallel to and lying against said fifth and third areas respectively, and tongue and aperture means formed in adjacent portions of said first and fifth areas between said fourth and sixth areas for holding said first and fifth areas together, said fourth and sixth areas each having a plurality of hollow, V-shaped ridges opening towards said second area and extending transversely between said third and fifth and seventh and eighth areas respectively, a plurality of apertures between adjacent ribs for receiving objects to be packed, the bent edges of the areas adjacent said fourth said fourth and sixth areas are aligned.

6. The container of claim 2, wherein one of said first and fifth areas has at least two tongues projecting into adjacent apertures of the other of said first and fifth areas beween said fourth and sixth areas.

7. The container of claim 1, wherein the bending edges at said zig-zag configuration contact each other at the lower bend of the zig-zag configuration of said side walls.

8. A cardboard blank for forming a container for small articles sch as ampoules, comprising a rectangular shape with straight, uninterrupted shorter and longer edges all around, a main panel as part of said shape, first tongue means partially surrounded by a respective panel penetrating cut in said main panel, a bottom panel, a side panel, and an end panel, fold lines extending in parallel to each other and to said shorter edges of the blank to separate the bottom panel from the main panel and from the side panel, a first group of spaced, parallel, panel penetrating straight cuts in said side panel, said first group of cuts extending in parallel to said longer edges, second tongue means partially surrounded by a respective panel penetrating cut in said side panel, panel penetrating cut lines in said side panel forming openings in said side panel aligned with said first tongue means to receive said first tongue means in the folded condition of the blank, a further'fold line extending in parallel to said first mentioned fold lines and separating said end panel from said side panel, and a second group of spaced, panel penetrating straight cuts in said end panel longitudinally aligned with the cuts in said first group of cuts, whereby said panels are foldable relative to each other so that the cuts of said first and second groups of cuts are spread open to form openings for said articles and whereby the second tongue means in said side panel fit into openings formed by respective cuts in said second group of cuts. 

1. A unitary cardboard packing container for receiving small objects, comprising two parallel spaced apart side walls, a middle portion joining said two side walls, said middle portion having a plurality of hollow, V-shaped ribs opening towards the space between said side walls and extending transversely between said side walls, a plurality of substantially hexagonal apertures of the same shape and size between adjacent ribs for receiving objects to be packed, the region of said side walls adjacent said ribs having edges with a zig-zag configuration, and connecting portions for joining said ribs to said zig-zag edges, said connecting portions having substantially a triangular shape and being connected by bending edges to said ribs and to said side walls, said side walls, ribs and connecting portions being formed of a single piece of sheet material.
 2. A cardboard packing container for receiving small objects, said container comprising a sheet of cardboard with straight edges and having first, second, third and fourth substantially adjacent areas bent to form the longitudinal sides of a rectangular parallelepiped, a fifth area adjoining said fourth area inside said parallelepiped lying against said first area and extending to said second area, a sixth area within said parallelepiped and parallel to said fourth area and seventh and eighth areas adjoining said sixth area and extending therefrom to said second area, parallel to and lying against said fifth and third areas respectively, and tongue and aperture means formed in adjacent portions of said first and fifth areas between said fourth and sixth areas for holding said first and fifth areas together, said fourth and sixth areas each having a plurality of hollow, V-shaped ridges opening towards said second area and extending transversely between said third and fifth and seventh and eighth areas respectively, a plurality of apertures between adjacent ribs for receiving objects to be packed, the bent edges of the areas adjacent said fourth and sixth areas having zig-zag configurations with the edges thereof being joined to adjacent ribs of said fourth and sixth areas by connecting portions.
 3. The container of claim 2, wherein said connecting portions are substantially triangularly shaped, and are connected by bending edges to the adjacent rib and to the adjacent respective area joined to said fourth and sixth sides.
 4. The container of claim 2, wherein said apertures are substantially hexagonal.
 5. The container of claim 2, wherein all of said apertures are of the same size and shape, and apertures in said fourth and sixth areas are aligned.
 6. The container of claim 2, wherein one of said first and fifth areas has at least two tongues projecting into adjacent apertures of the other of said first and fifth areas beween said fourth and sixth areas.
 7. The container of claim 1, wherein the bending edges at said zig-zag configuration contact each other at the lower bend of the zig-zag configuration of said side walls.
 8. A cardboard blank for forming a container for small articles sch as ampoules, comprising a rectangular shape with straight, uninterrupted shorter and longer edges all around, a main panel as part of said shape, first tongue means partially surrounded by a respective panel penetrAting cut in said main panel, a bottom panel, a side panel, and an end panel, fold lines extending in parallel to each other and to said shorter edges of the blank to separate the bottom panel from the main panel and from the side panel, a first group of spaced, parallel, panel penetrating straight cuts in said side panel, said first group of cuts extending in parallel to said longer edges, second tongue means partially surrounded by a respective panel penetrating cut in said side panel, panel penetrating cut lines in said side panel forming openings in said side panel aligned with said first tongue means to receive said first tongue means in the folded condition of the blank, a further fold line extending in parallel to said first mentioned fold lines and separating said end panel from said side panel, and a second group of spaced, panel penetrating straight cuts in said end panel longitudinally aligned with the cuts in said first group of cuts, whereby said panels are foldable relative to each other so that the cuts of said first and second groups of cuts are spread open to form openings for said articles and whereby the second tongue means in said side panel fit into openings formed by respective cuts in said second group of cuts. 